


Of ducklings and toasters

by medjackjeff (zephyr_lynx)



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 19:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5017699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephyr_lynx/pseuds/medjackjeff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Very short 'some idiot set off the firealarm at 3 a.m. and now the hot neighbour is standing in his boxers next to me help what am I supposed to do’-AU I wrote for a friend.<br/>Thomaris-centric with a dash Brenda/Gally friendship because I need more of that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of ducklings and toasters

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm still transferring my fics from Tumblr, and this is a rather short drabble I wrote down for a friend. I hope you like it!

Fire alarms generally make unpleasant noises. Thomas actually couldn’t reproach that to them; after all, that made up a big part of their effect.

It was just really hard keeping that in mind with it blaring loudly at three a.m. in the shuckin’ morning.

Thomas groaned loud enough to rival its volume and shuffled out of bed, pulling his blanket with him. He was too drowsy to do anything else than grab his car and apartment keys and wallet and just head straight for the door to their apartment. Emergency protocol stated that the building had to be evacuated, and administration had done countless tests at the most ungodly hours to underline that point. The last one had only been the month before, so Thomas knew it wasn’t a drill this time.

Arrived at the door, he remembered something.

He did have a roommate.

Right.

“Minho, you coming?” he called over his shoulder.

“Shuckin’ klunk!” was the answer. “Thomas, go ahead! I’ll need a minute!”

Well, that sounded a lot more awake and panicky than expected.

“You sure?” Thomas asked back, trying to rub sleep out of his eyes.

“YES!” came the familiar voice from somewhere in the apartment.

The urgent scream only made Thomas shrug. His roomie was a dramaqueen, especially at this hour.

“I have the keys!” he informed his friend before heading out the door, down the steps of the apartment complex and out onto the street to join the other inhabitants.

He looked up the building. Flames were not surging out some window, and he couldn’t see or smell smoke. Some idiot must’ve left the stove on or something. So, all he had to do was wait for the firefighters to show up and clear the building so he could resume sleeping.

The pavement beneath his bare feet reminded him that he probably should’ve put on shoes or a similar concept before leaving the cosy apartment.

“I swear, if somebody left his stove on or some shit, I’ll probably murder them.”

Thomas almost started back as he heard his reflections being said out loud. He turned around to see who possessed the ability to read his thoughts.

He got everything he wasn’t expecting, since he suddenly stood face to face to a certain olive-skinned, black-haired man who was wearing nothing but boxers with tiny yellow ducklings on them.

It was a lot to take in at once, and Thomas settled for staring and trying to find words.

Aris raised an arm and ruffled his hair, which Thomas found absolutely unfair. He was just getting used to the slender torso and the boxers which hung just low enough on his hips to make Thomas’ imagination run rampart. So adding tousled hair to the mixture was completely uncalled for.

Torn between two moods – namely ‘shuck you’ and ‘shuck me’ – Thomas just blurted out: “Aren’t you cold?”

His next-door neighbour made a non-committed gesture with his head, a nod that turned into a shrug, and wrapped his arms around himself.

Thomas was so preoccupied with his own thoughts – “Wow, could you not? Please?” – that he almost missed the answer.

“A bit, yeah. I wasn’t prepared for that and just…panicked. Left. Suddenly stood on the street like this and they aren’t allowing me to go back in.”

Thomas needed a few seconds to understand why Aris was suspiciously eyeing at his chest. Had he forgotten to put a t-shirt on himself? Had he been sleeping naked?

Then, he noticed the blanket still hanging from his shoulders like a combination of superhero cape and Roman toga, and quickly pulled it down.

“Do you want to-?” Thomas had no clue how to finish this sentence. Have my blanket? That sounded weird on a level he wasn’t quite able to grasp.

He could’ve sworn that Aris’ cheeks flushed slightly red. They weren’t close. They were neighbours, sure, but somehow they’d never come around to get to know each other closer. At least, if you didn’t count Thomas’ crush on most of Aris. And Thomas was pretty sure that didn’t count.

“Uhm…” Another hasty run of fingers through dark hair. Thomas could see the goosebumps on his skin. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Oh, not at all.” Thomas said and handed him the blanket a little too quickly. _'Oh, not at all?' How old are you, Tommy? Seventy?_

Aris snuggled into the blanket and that sight plus the content sigh he gave almost made up for the disappearance of his naked torso. Thomas mentally chided himself. Aris not getting cold was more important than his perverted mind.

Said mind was able to take a break because of the arrival of Brenda and Gally.

“Please tell me it wasn’t Minho.” Brenda greeted him.

“ _Again._ ” Gally added.

Thomas shook his head. “Don’t think so.”

“Whoever it was, to hell with him.” Brenda murmured, her arms clutched to her chest. “I envy you for your blanket, Aris.”

Aris gave a loop-sided grin. “It’s actually Thomas’.”

Brenda quickly shot Thomas an amused glance. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” he replied, trying to keep a straight face.

“So…you’re cold, Bren?” Gally asked with a strange edge to his voice.

“Don’t you dare!” Brenda exclaimed and jumped out of his way.

But it was too late. Gally had already captured her in his arms and pulled her close, ruffling her hair wildly while he was at it. Brenda screeched loud enough to catch the attention of the other people on the street.

The two men laughed loudly at them. Their height difference was just hilarious; Brenda seemed fragile and poppet-like in Gally's strong arms.

She still struggled and he just grinned slyly down at her.

“Let me go, you slinthead!” she hissed, her voice almost void of laughter.

“As you wish.” Gally obeyed meekly.

Brenda, who had not expected that outcome, gave another, less loud screech as she stumbled forward.

“Wait, I didn’t mean that!” She fled back and wrapped her arms around Gally’s waist.

He laughed a little and pulled her against him, rubbing her arms to warm her. Brenda snuggled closer, and Thomas could just marvel at the two of them. They were probably the most married couple he knew, and they weren’t even dating. Just sharing an apartment. Platonic lifegoals he still had to achieve with his roomie.

Thomas felt the cold creeping up to him too. It was spring, but at three in the morning, he couldn’t blame the weather for the temperatures. He absent-mindedly juggled his keys in his hand, the metallic sounds calming him down.

He only stopped when Aris gave him a stray glance.

“What?”

“Are those car keys?” his neighbour asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Dude, doesn’t your car have a radiator??” Aris shot back excitedly.

Thomas didn’t even bother to answer. He sprinted away, Aris and the flattering blanket on his heels.

Gally looked after them. “What was that?”

Brenda just patted his shoulder. She had to tiptoe to achieve her goal. “Let them be. You know how long Tom’s been making mooneyes at him.”

* * *

“This isn’t ‘home, sweet home’, this is ‘heat, sweet heat’.” Aris summed up how Thomas felt in exactly one sentence. He was still wrapped in his neighbour’s blanket, but his lower lip had stopped trembling and the two of them just sighed happily at the comfortable place they were in right now.

Aris shifted in the passenger seat, and the blanket shifted with him, revealing his duckling-boxershorts. Thomas didn’t know if it was because he was relaxed or because the boxers looked funny enough or because he was sitting with Aris alone in his car, but he couldn’t hold back a little laugh.

Aris looked down, and this time, his cheeks definitely coloured red.

Thomas immediately felt bad. This had been insensitive and rude. Like he had been any better at coming prepared.

“The worst boxers I own have a butterfly print.” was the only response he was able to blurt out.

He’d probably stood up and run back into the burning building if it had actually been on fire. _Butterfly print?!?? Congratulations, Thomas, you just ruined every chance you might’ve had with this guy._

Aris stared in surprise at him for a few seconds before breaking into laughter. “You think these are the worst boxers I own?!? You should see the one with the cows!”

Thomas learned that his laughter was contagious, and soon, the two of them were cackling and clutching their stomachs.

* * *

Thomas woke up because somebody tapped on the window. He jerked up and promptly hit his head on the car. That noise woke up Aris too, who stirred and blinked in confusion.

On the driver’s seat, Thomas rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then recognized his roommate standing outside. It was morning, the sun was shining and Minho was wearing his running gear.

The events of the previous evening came back to him. He and Aris had continued talking even after the firefighters had come and gone, about the silliest things like boxers, dogs and Gally, until they’d just dozed off. The car must’ve gone out to take care of the battery, but it wasn’t cold anymore.

Minho however did not know any of this. Still, he looked pretty pissed off, and then Thomas’ eyes fell onto his keys on the dashboard.

Oops.

He had locked out his roommate from their own apartment last night.

_Shuck._

He quickly winded down the window.

“What the hell, man?” was Minho’s immediate reaction. “I had to crash at Gally’s!”

“I just…forgot!”

“ _Forgot?!?_ We share an apartment! And with all the firefighters in it, I was really ready to get back into it. So they shut the door, and I had no possibility to get in! I mean, I couldn’t ask the landlord, not after I threw everyone out with the alarm!”

It was a lot of information to come by.

Apparently, Minho had been responsible for the whole intermezzo last night. Again, as Gally had put it.

“Was it the microwave again?” Thomas asked curiously.

“No, the toaster, this time.” Minho said sarcastically, but it was probably the truth.

Aris just tried to hide his grin.

“And Brenda told me she didn’t know where you were. So I slept on their couch and went to the landlord this morning.” Minho finished his explanation.

Thomas made a mental note to give Brenda a smooch next time he saw her.

“I slept here.” he replied helpfully.

Minho groaned. “You’re useless at this time of day. I forgot. Till later, shuckface.”

“Sorry!” Thomas yelled after him after he’d taken up his run. Minho flipped him off, and it was everything his roommate needed to know that everything was alright.

“He didn’t even ask why I was only wearing boxers.” Aris said, actual surprise in his voice.

“It’s because he knows he’s fucked up as much as I have.” Thomas explained. “Technically more. I mean, I didn’t set off the fire alarm at three a.m. with a shuckin’ toaster.”

“I’m glad he did.” Aris stated simply and smiled at him.

Thomas ignored the butterflies in his stomach and smiled back. “Yeah, me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Also, if anybody wants to talk to me about anything Brenda/Gally related, don't hesitate. I'm starving for any kind of relationship between them!


End file.
